Although the Chargers trailed for only a small portion of the CIF Northern California Division 3-A championship game at home against previously unbeaten Capital Christian of Sacramento, it wasn’t until back-to-back sacks by the defense in the final minute that Wilcox could breathe a sigh of relief.

Or, rather, storm the field in euphoria after a 34-30 victory that secured a spot in the state finals for the first time in school history.

“It’s surreal,” Wilcox coach Paul Rosa said. “It doesn’t feel real to be playing football on December 15. That’s a long ways away from when we started, that’s for sure.”

“It’s a total blessing,” Wilcox quarterback Alex Adame said. “We’ve been working for this since January and it’s surreal. It feels so good.”

A perfect season slipped away the previous week after seven turnovers contributed to a 33-28 loss in the Central Coast Section Open Division I title game against Menlo-Atherton.

Ball possession once again almost came to haunt Wilcox, which seemed poised to run out the clock before losing a fumble with 2:21 left on its own territory.

Capital Christian (13-1), a two-time state runner-up, moved the ball inside the red zone and barely missed out on the go-ahead touchdown on second down.

“They were 13-0 for a reason,” said Rosa, who witnessed a pair of double-digit leads in the second half vanish in no time after 37- and 42-yard touchdowns to Capital Christian senior Trey Jones, who finished with five catches for 200 yards and three TDs. “We knew we weren’t going to just put them away. They were going to make us fight for it. Hat’s off to them. They were dangerous on offense, for sure.”

At the same time, Wilcox is no pushover.

Alejandro J. Brizuela, a 6-foot-3, 207-pound defensive end, recorded his second sack of the game at the most opportune time, forcing a fumble and loss of 13 yards that virtually put the game out of reach.

“We have one of the toughest defenses in all of California, I feel like,” said Adame, who watched his fellow senior strip-sack the opposing quarterback inside the red zone. “I mean, that sack was huge. I was so excited, I was jumping up and down on the sidelines. And we closed it out from there. It felt great.”

Faced with fourth-and-21, protection for Capital Christian immediately broke down as Wilcox junior Isaiah Flores rushed from the edge and combined with Tyler Rowland for another sack.

“I got a good move in and then out, and I just kept going to finish the play,” Flores said. “We just keep our focus and we play until it’s over.”

“Our defense stepped up there,” Rosa said. “We had a similar situation against Valley Christian in the first game of the year where we needed a defensive stand in the end, and they did again tonight.”

Capital Christian, the Sac-Joaquin Section Division III champion, lost its shot at hosting the NorCal title game after a player was ejected for showboating following warnings against misbehavior.

That provided the Chargers with home-field advantage.

The first half turned into a tug-of-war as Capital Christian settled for a 35-yard field goal by Kenyon Bowyer after the opening kickoff.

The ensuing kickoff saw Wilcox senior Ryan Cooper Jr. sprint 98 yards to the house to make it 7-3.

Throughout the night, the Chargers struggled to contain running back D’Marcus Ross, who finished with 21 carries for 136 yards and caught a 17-yard touchdown in the second quarter — part of his five receptions for 85 yards.

But on the strength 2- and 4-yard plunges by Paul M. Rosa, the latter with 1:09 left in the half, Wilcox went into intermission ahead 21-17.

As the Chargers sought to establish the run and dominate time of possession, Rosa had 20 carries for 85 yards, while Gabe Herrera compiled 16 carries for 66 yards.

Out of the locker room, Wilcox struck first on a 42-yard touchdown pass to Cooper after being faced with first-and-35 — in fact, the only two completions for Adame turned into TDs.

“We’ve been working on those in practice all year, so I know what to read,” said Adame, who ran it 10 times for a team-high 106 yards. “And the one to Cooper, me and him, we got that timing down. As soon as he chops his feet, just throw it, let it go. I had pressure in my face, but I trusted Cooper to make that catch and he’s great with running after the catch.”

It took 18 seconds for Capital Christian to answer and cut the deficit to 28-24.

But while momentum seemed to shift in favor of the Cougars after an interception by Ross only two plays later, a turnover on downs, a missed field goal and a pick by Paul M. Rosa — the coach’s son — abruptly ended the next three drives.

Five plays after the sudden change of possession, Adame tossed a 15-yard fade to tight end Nick Malvini, a familiar target since freshman year, to go up 34-24 with 5:44 left in the game.

“We got down a little bit and our guys kept fighting back like they’ve done all year,” said Capital Christian coach Casey Taylor, in his second year at the helm after 15 seasons at Del Oro, including a state title in 2015. “Real proud of the effort, but Wilcox is a great football team and when you get to this stage in the NorCal finals you can’t make those mistakes and move on. So good luck to them next week.”

Who would’ve thought it?

Only days away from Christmas and practice is not over.

“It’s amazing,” Flores said. “This is a first-time, lifetime experience. I’m happy for the team because we’ve been working for this all spring, all summer. I don’t know what to say right now.”

Check back later for more photos.

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Vytas Mazeika is a sports reporter at The Daily News based out of Menlo Park. He covers athletics at every level, from high school to Stanford to the pros. He also designs the sports pages and copy edits for The Daily News print edition. Mazeika graduated from Carlmont High in 1994 and earned an English bachelor's degree from UCLA.